This invention relates generally to children's ride-on vehicles, and more particularly it concerns pinch relief structure on the vehicle, for use in conjunction with a compartment-enclosing member such as a hood, trunk, or door, for preventing a child from pinching a finger when the member is closed.
Children's ride-on vehicles come in many shapes and sizes. Often times, such vehicles are modelled after real-life vehicles driven by adults. One such children's vehicle is the JEEP.TM. manufactured by Mattel's Power Wheels. One of the features of such vehicles, and one which is especially appealing to children, are the real-life moving parts which are designed to look and function like the counterparts on adult-driven vehicles. Such features include pivotably-attached compartment-enclosing members, e.g., hoods, trunks, and doors, which impart a realism to such children's ride-on vehicles and greatly enhance a child's enjoyment of the toy. For example, a child may pretend to be "working under the hood" by simply pivoting the hood to an open position and assuming a working position.
It is usually not a problem for safety-conscious adults to remember to extract their hands and/or fingers from the space in real-life vehicles which exists between the edge of an open enclosing member and the vehicle before closing the member. For children however, such may not always be the case. Because children are excitable and easily distracted when playing, they may not always remember to remove a hand or finger from the space between the edge of an enclosing member and the riding vehicle before the member is closed.
A need exists for a pinch relief device which may be incorporated into the design of children's ride-on vehicles, and particularly in conjunction with compartment-enclosing members thereon, to prevent a child from pinching a hand or finger when such compartment is closed.
With the above problems in mind, is a general object of the invention to provide a children's riding vehicle with pinch relief structure for preventing a child from pinching a hand or finger when a compartment-enclosing member is moved from an opened position to a closed position.
It is another object of the invention to provide pinch relief structure on a compartment-enclosing member which is an integral part of the enclosing member.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a vehicle with pivotable compartment-enclosing members having pinch relief structure thereon, such structure being formed during the formation of the enclosing member.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a compartment-enclosing member with pinch relief structure on a children's riding vehicle which is durable enough to withstand the oftentimes destructive way a child treats a toy.
The invention achieves these and other objects in the form of a children's riding vehicle having a compartment-enclosing member, e.g., a hood, door or the like, which includes pinch relief structure for preventing a child from pinching a finger when the enclosing member is closed. The structure includes an arm joined to the member adjacent an edge thereof being movable therewith when the member is opened and closed. A slot in the vehicle receives the arm and permits it to move, as a unit with the enclosing member, when the enclosing member is opened and closed. Such movement within the slot selectively defines a space between the edge of the enclosing member adjacent which the arm is joined and the vehicle, such space for preventing a child from pinching a finger when the member is closed.
These and other advantages and features of the invention will become more fully apparent when the detailed description below is read with reference to the accompanying drawings.